The Cleveland Cavaliers concluded a six-game road trip on Saturday at the Chicago Bulls. Here’s a few takeaways from that stretch.
Grueling road trips happen throughout the season for all NBA teams, and those are never easy, I wouldn’t think. The Cleveland Cavaliers just finished up a six-game roadie, which was an encouraging one, as I’d imagine head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff would attest to.
Though there were two blowout losses in there in a back-to-back at the Los Angeles Lakers then LA Clippers, the Cavaliers hung around for a good while in those games, at least, and were competitive in the others. For a team that’s rebuilding, you’ll generally take that.
Anyhow, let’s get into a few takeaways from this latest road trip for the Wine and Gold.
Takeaway #1: Darius Garland’s well on his way
Darius Garland has really started to put it all together as of late for the Cavs. The rookie has been killing it in the month of January, as he’s posted 15.7 points, 6.0 assists and 1.0 steals per outing, as shown by NBA.com. In this road trip, he continued showing his growth, with averages of 15.8 points, 6.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game, again, per NBA.com.
I understand it was just six games, yes, but the 19-year-old continued progression he’s shown, especially over the last month or so, and with him seemingly getting closer to full strength/speed, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, I’m convinced there’s a good possibility Garland could be in-line for an explosion in the second half of this season.
Against the Clippers, Garland had the first double-double of his career with 14 points and 10 assists.
Along with that, against the Detroit Pistons and in a shocking W over the Denver Nuggets, Garland came up big in crunch time. His floater game is getting better, and his timing there has improved as he’s not challenging length nearly as close to the rim.
He showcased that, again, a bunch against Denver.
Granted, DG didn’t end the road trip how he wanted, and eight turnovers against the Chicago Bulls was tough to see. The full offensive array of Darius is beginning to show more and more, anyhow.
Also, on another positive note, Garland, while having a ways to go in terms of on-ball defense, as is the many young guards, anyway, has had better feel as of late off the ball.
On this road trip, he showed more activity in that regard, too, which got the Cavs and the likes of Collin Sexton, for instance, some bonus looks in transition.
Now on to the second takeaway from this roadie.